Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

Siemens PC D

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Type
  
Personal computer

CPU
  
Intel 80186 @ 8 MHz

Discontinued
  
1986

Siemens PC-D

Release date
  
PC-X: 1982; 35 years ago (1982) PC-D: 1984; 33 years ago (1984)

Media
  
5¼″ floppy disk, hard disk

Operating system
  
PC-X: SINIX, PC-D: MS-DOS 2.11

The PC-D and PC-X were personal computers sold by Siemens between 1982 (PC-X)/1984 (PC-D) and 1986. The PC-D was the first MS-DOS-based PC sold by Siemens, though it was not fully compatible with the IBM PC architecture. It was succeeded by the PCD-2.

Contents

Hardware

Most of the hardware was identical. While the PC-X was equipped with 1 MB of RAM, a hard disk and a MMU, the PC-D came with 128 kB of RAM and a single 5¼″ floppy disk drive in its basic configuration. More powerful configurations with 256 kB, 512 kB or 1 MB and either a second floppy disk drive or a hard disk with a capacity of 13 or 20 MB were also available. The keyboard layout differed between the two models.

The PC-D had a certain level of compatibility with the IBM PC architecture but differed in a number of aspects:

  • Intel 80186 processor
  • Double-density floppy disk drives with a proprietary 80-track format (729,088 bytes)
  • Proprietary monochrome graphics adapter with a resolution of 640×350 pixels and black-on-white text mode (which could be inverted through a software tool)
  • 12″ monochrome monitor, powered through the graphics card
  • V.11 serial ports for keyboard and mouse (the latter being optional)
  • Different keyboard layout: among others, the PC-D had a Help key and keys to control a connected printer but only five cursor keys (←↓↑→ and Home)
  • Both V.11 and V.24 ports for printers
  • A parallel port was available only as an add-on; if not installed, LPT1: and LPT2: would address the serial ports
  • Proprietary VG96 Local Bus
  • The power switch could be inhibited in software
  • A debug button (located next to the reset button) to display the contents of the processor registers
  • The mainboard had a SCSI interface, although hard disks had a ST506 interface and were connected to a separate controller board.

    • Optional hardware included:

  • a two-button mouse
  • the PT20 daisy wheel printer, the PT88 (available as ink jet or pin printer) or the PT89 (the A3 variant of the PT88)
  • the UTC 101, UTC 421-1 or UTC 424-4 teletex controllers, the latter of which could also be used to network up to four PC-Ds
  • a tape drive with a capacity of 45 MB

    • Software

    The PC-D shipped with MS-DOS 2.11 (version 3.20 became available later), which was extended with a menu system through which users could launch applications without having to use the command line. Application software included:

  • Microsoft Word
  • Microsoft Multiplan
  • Microsoft Chart
  • dBase,
  • GW-BASIC interpreter and compiler
  • Lotus Spotlight, an application suite which consisted of a notepad, calculator, calendar, card file, phone book and file manager which could be launched on top of other running DOS applications
  • Open Access, an office suite which included a database, a spreadsheet application, a charting tool, a calendar and a BBS terminal
  • A 9750 terminal emulation for BS-2000 mainframe access
  • Some simple games
  • Microsoft Windows 1.0

    • Hardware calls on the PC-D differed from those on fully IBM compatible PCs, causing most DOS applications to crash on the PC-D unless they were recompiled or patched, making them incompatible with IBM PCs. Windows applications could usually be exchanged between both platforms.

    The PC-X shipped with SINIX.

    References

    Siemens PC-D Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA